ALMA Captures Detailed Image of Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone
Astronomers using ALMA have produced the largest image to date of the Milky Way's center, revealing intricate gas filaments and complex molecular structures.
Astronomers have unveiled an unprecedented image of the Milky Way's center, capturing the complex distribution of molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). Utilizing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the team produced the largest ALMA image to date, spanning an area in the sky as wide as three full Moons side by side.
The CMZ, a region over 650 light-years across, surrounds the galaxy's supermassive black hole and is characterized by dense clouds of gas and dust. This environment is known for its extreme conditions, where massive stars form and evolve rapidly.
The ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey (ACES) focused on mapping cold molecular gas, detecting dozens of molecules, including simple ones like silicon monoxide and complex organic compounds such as methanol, acetone, and ethanol. These molecules flow along filaments, feeding clumps of matter where stars can ignite.
Steve Longmore, ACES leader and professor of astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, stated, "The CMZ hosts some of the most massive stars known in our galaxy, many of which live fast and die young, ending their lives in powerful supernova explosions, and even hypernovae."
By studying star formation in this extreme environment, astronomers aim to test existing theories and gain insights into how galaxies evolved. Longmore added, "We believe the region shares many features with galaxies in the early Universe, where stars were forming in chaotic, extreme environments."
Ashley Barnes, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Germany, remarked, "It's a place of extremes, invisible to our eyes, but now revealed in extraordinary detail."
The ACES data is set to be published in a series of papers in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.